EnerVest Utica Shops 340K Acres of ORRI in Ohio Utica Shale
EV Royalty Partners, an affiliate of EnerVest Ltd., has retained Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse for the sale of a Utica Shale overriding royalty interest (ORRI) package across multiple counties in Ohio. The package on offer includes portions of ORRI in some 340,894 acres. The acreage is actively leased and developed by Encino Energy, Ascent Resources, and Southwestern Energy. Bids are due by Dec. 2nd.
Read More “EnerVest Utica Shops 340K Acres of ORRI in Ohio Utica Shale”
The so-called Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) lost a big court case in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court in August (see 
You know it’s the end of the world when (in this case) the far-left editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who universally hate shale drilling, support shale drilling under public parks in Allegheny County (Greater Pittsburgh). Last week MDN told you that anti-drilling zealots in Allegheny County were making yet another play, as they did eight years ago, to get County Council to pass a permanent ban on fracking under (not on) county parks (see 
Over the past two years, MDN has told you about a tiny 2.1-mile looping pipeline segment proposed by Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), to be buried next to the existing TGP, to connect regions around Springfield, Massachusetts to receive more natural gas supplies. Springfield neighborhoods like Holyoke have an ongoing moratorium on hooking up new natgas customers unless/until more supply is provided (see 
Although this story technically is not about the Marcellus/Utica, it is about the parent company of the Shell ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, and it is instructive for politicians everywhere that increasingly love to bash fossil fuel companies. Royal Dutch Shell Plc was founded in and has been headquartered in The Netherlands for the past 100+ years. The Netherlands is attacking the company via the courts and with threats of insane taxes. So Shell is doing the unthinkable: Reorganizing and dropping “Royal Dutch” from the name and relocating its headquarters from the Netherlands to London.
It’s been too long (months!) since we’ve last updated our calendar of events page. We updated it as of today. Below is the list of events we are aware of that will be of interest to those with an interest in the Marcellus/Utica shale region for the balance of 2021 and into early 2022. Some events are in the region (PA, WV). Some are not (TX, KY). Some are virtual/online, but most have returned to in-person. All of them are of potential interest to the MDN audience.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EQT recognized for advancing women’s leadership and board diversity; Pittsburgh shoots itself in the head with so-called energy strategy for builders; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas in storage in early November is 3% below the recent average; Wake up America! China is making fools of us on energy!; Why are oil prices so high when the U.S. remains one of the world’s largest producers?; Shale drilling could accelerate soon; US shale basin merger and acquisition activity surpasses seven-year high; INTERNATIONAL: Oil and gas will be in the global energy system ‘for decades,’ BP chief says; Europe’s first winter cold spell already straining natural gas supplies.
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on the Marcellus in Susquehanna County, PA. Epsilon doesn’t typically do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company typically does the drilling. Epsilon issued its third quarter update on Wednesday. The company’s Marcellus net gas production was 2.6 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in total for 3Q21, compared to 3.0 Bcf of net gas production in 3Q20 (a 13% decrease). However, revenues were $13.1 million in 3Q21, compared to $5.8 million in 3Q20 (more than doubled). In addition to the 3Q numbers, we have an update on Epsilon’s lawsuit against its partner Chesapeake Energy.
We are stupified watching how the biased, leftwing mainstream media is treating utility company Spire (located in St. Louis) over the company’s recent statements warning natural gas customers their gas may run out if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) does not act to extend an emergency certificate authorizing the operation of a pipeline that’s been up and running for the past two years–Spire STL. Yesterday we told you about vicious attacks against Spire for simply speaking the truth (see 
Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see 
A coalition of upstream (drilling), midstream (pipeline), and downstream (utility) companies formed an industry group called ONE Future back in 2014. The aim of the group is to lower methane emissions across all aspects of the natural gas infrastructure system nationwide and to emit (lose into the atmosphere) no more than 1% by 2025. A number of Marcellus/Utica companies have joined (
In September MDN brought you a fantastic column by Paul Driessen, a senior policy advisor for CFACT (Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, a Washington, D.C. think tank), taking aim at so-called ESG, or environment, social, and governance programs, that are all the rage these days (see 
Has it really come to this? If a utility company that’s being attacked by anti-drilling zealots (Environmental Defense Fund) with help from a colluding federal court (U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit) dares to warn its customers they may experience an outage this winter because of the government closing down a critical natural gas pipeline, the utility company is put on the hot seat and made out to be the villain! Blame the victim!! Free speech is now under attack everywhere.